Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

ACOs: Danger Lurks In Health-Care Reform (Calif.) Capitol Weekly There is a very real danger that by the time policy makers get around to reading and understanding this section of law (on accountable care organizations) that the health care marketplace will have irreversibly changed (Dustin Corcoran, 9/30).

No, You Can't Keep Your Current Health Coverage American Spectator Campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday, the President repeated his biggest health care reform whopper. ... Yet hours before he uttered that line, the Boston Globe reported that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care was canceling its Medicare Advantage coverage specifically because of new regulations imposed by Obama's health care law (Andrew Cline, 9/30).

The NAIC's Effort To Find Balance In Its Medical Loss Ratio Regulation Kaiser Health News For months, a National Association of Insurance Commissioners working group has been busily drafting regulations to implement a key provision of the health law -- its medical loss ratio requirement. The NAIC's proposed regulation recognizes and balances the claims of the various stakeholders that have fully participated in its drafting. It should prove workable for insurers while benefiting consumers (Timothy Jost, 9/30).

Democrats And The Health-Reform Albatross The Wall Street Journal More and more Americans are (rightly) concluding Mr. Obama's reform is a fiscal disaster of epic proportions. By making so many transparently false claims, Mr. Obama persuaded and energized a large swath of the electorate to oppose health-care reform (Karl Rove, 9/30).

Admiral Mike Mullen: Cost Of Military Health Care Is "Not Sustainable" Christian Science Monitor Like business and government in America, the US military is also burdened with the soaring cost of health care. The debt endangers America's national security because it endangers its economic strength. Sacrifice goes with the territory of being in the armed services, and the military budget needs serious cutting (Francine Kiefer, 9/29).

Don't Believe Scare Tactics On Health Reform The Sacramento Bee The poster child for rising insurance rates [Anthem Blue Cross] now is taking the lead trying to kill a signature piece of health care reform. In the end, this fake hue and cry is an attempt to obscure the fact that an exchange would require insurers who want to access this new market to submit to a competitive selection process, to justify any premium increases and to provide data on enrollment, disenrollment, claims denied and rating practices (9/29).